The Recap: EU LCS Week 4
Riot·6/13/2014, 9:55:50 PM·0 votes·1,339 views
For the first 3 weeks of EU LCS, it was starting to look like the European scene might finally start to make sense, with a clear hierarchy of teams, game results that make sense, and consistent gameplay from the top teams.
However, the European scene only established normality over a few weeks before plunging back into insanity. We had a forfeit, a failed base race, upsets, and movements in the rankings everywhere.
Jarvan isn’t an unheard-of pick, but he hasn’t been played much in about a full split. However, heavy jungle bans pushed Svenskeren onto Jarvan, while Airwaks went onto Jax. Jarvan showed why he was once such a strong jungler, with early pressure ganks followed by strong teamfights on route to a commanding SK Gaming victory.
Millennium
Millenium is unpredictable. They’re hot then they’re cold, they’re yes then they’re no. This week, they were hot enough to take down the Supa Hot Crew, and denied a Gambit Gaming 2-0 week, with every player on Millenium earning 45+ fantasy points, and Kev1n, KottenX, and Kerp all being chosen as Week 4’s OP players, and Kerp taking home the Week 4 MVP award.
Aatrox has been struggling mightily as of late. He was picked multiple times this week, but failed to make an impact. He doesn’t bring enough damage, isn’t tanky enough, and doesn’t bring enough CC, and went a combined 1-9-5 in two decisive losses.
The Man Lane
Millenium picked up Graves & Braum, the “manly” bot lane. While Millenium did eventually win the game, Genja’s Lucian and EDward’s Thresh abused the pair in lane, giving them a hard time until teamfights began.
Fnatic’s Base Race
Who wins a base race, the full team of Alliance or Rekkles’ Twitch and the occasional help from xPeke’s Twisted Fate? Turns out it’s Alliance. Fnatic seemed to fall apart in playcalling and lost a game they had every reason to win. For a team that’s always been known for grace under pressure, this is disappointing, and hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite them. However, the team synergy seemed shattered as Fnatic argued heatedly after the game.
Games of the Week
Day 1: Alliance vs Gambit Gaming Alliance came into this week expecting to dominate after a 7-1 start. They were able to get a number of early kills, pulling ahead to 4-1 and a 2 tower lead - largely at Darien’s expense, as he started 0-4-0. However, Gambit pulled harder and harder into the late game as Darien’s Kayle started to finally pick up gold. After falling 6k gold behind, Alliance tried to force a fight with a Teleport from Wickd’s Shyvana, but the rest of the squad did not respond quickly enough, and Gambit was able to chain 3 kills into a push for the win. Day 2: Fnatic vs Alliance After their strong win against SK gaming, Fnatic came out strong against Alliance, picking up a number of early kills with the same Twisted Fate Twitch combo. Then Fnatic’s shotcalling seemed to fall apart. Despite being behind, Alliance decided to send all five towards the mid lane as soon as they spotted Rekkles and xPeke attempting to shove into their base. Fnatic’s response came far too slowly, ultimately filing in a few at a time, allowing Alliance to pick them off one by one. In a sudden, shocking comeback, they took the Nexus and the victory from the grasps of Fnatic. Day 2: CW vs SK Gaming SK Gaming has been one of the strongest teams in Europe, so Copenhagen Wolves were going to have a tough time with them, even if they had their starting mid laner cowTard. Unfortunately, they had to replace him with substitute Mazzerin due to cowTard falling ill. However, this game was full of uniqueness, especially in the jungle. SK Gaming threw back to the Spring Split of Season 4 and the Summer Split of Season 3, running Renekton top and Jarvan jungle. Meanwhile, Copenhagen Wolves picked Jax early before playing mind games by switching him to the jungle. The constant pressure from Jarvan’s early ganks put SK Gaming ahead early. Sure, jungle Jax was able to make picks and scale up, but Jarvan was able to make plays and teamfights, and SK Gaming was able to use that to pull a larger and larger gold lead. Top laner Fredy122 was absolutely crucial in SK’s victory, pulling a near-100 CS lead despite constant ganks on his lane, and pulling the aggro of 2-3 members of Copenhagen Wolves top so the rest of his team could constantly pressure objectives, and eventually, the Nexus.Biggest Surprises
Jungle Jarvan
Jarvan isn’t an unheard-of pick, but he hasn’t been played much in about a full split. However, heavy jungle bans pushed Svenskeren onto Jarvan, while Airwaks went onto Jax. Jarvan showed why he was once such a strong jungler, with early pressure ganks followed by strong teamfights on route to a commanding SK Gaming victory.
Millennium
Millenium is unpredictable. They’re hot then they’re cold, they’re yes then they’re no. This week, they were hot enough to take down the Supa Hot Crew, and denied a Gambit Gaming 2-0 week, with every player on Millenium earning 45+ fantasy points, and Kev1n, KottenX, and Kerp all being chosen as Week 4’s OP players, and Kerp taking home the Week 4 MVP award.
Biggest Disappointments
Aatrox
Aatrox has been struggling mightily as of late. He was picked multiple times this week, but failed to make an impact. He doesn’t bring enough damage, isn’t tanky enough, and doesn’t bring enough CC, and went a combined 1-9-5 in two decisive losses.
The Man Lane
Millenium picked up Graves & Braum, the “manly” bot lane. While Millenium did eventually win the game, Genja’s Lucian and EDward’s Thresh abused the pair in lane, giving them a hard time until teamfights began.
Fnatic’s Base Race
Who wins a base race, the full team of Alliance or Rekkles’ Twitch and the occasional help from xPeke’s Twisted Fate? Turns out it’s Alliance. Fnatic seemed to fall apart in playcalling and lost a game they had every reason to win. For a team that’s always been known for grace under pressure, this is disappointing, and hopefully it doesn’t come back to bite them. However, the team synergy seemed shattered as Fnatic argued heatedly after the game.
